She speaks her sorrow
In elegant, written verse
Heart's calligraphy.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Engineering is awesome.
The theatre that I work at, along with its main stage, has a secondary space that it uses primarly for musical performances, as well as rehearsals while the sets are being constructed on the main stage.
When they were giving me the tour, they gushed about how absolutely amazing the acoustics of this space were, comparing it to some very famous site in Italy that I had never heard of before, but I nodded politely nonetheless. That said, when they went into detail about the construction and components involved (i.e., things I understood) my nodding was much more earnest. But that wasn't the coolest part about the room.
THIS is the coolest part about the room:
Can you see what they did there? Here's a bigger picture closer up.
The floor is on hydraulic lifts which drop down into the floor.
Tell me that isn't cool! When they originally told me that had stadium seating built into the floor I assumed it was something that went up, not down. This is much classier than I was imagining. It's apparently all patented technology from some company out in Germany. There is, or was at the time they built this place ten years ago, only one other location in the U.S. that uses this system.
Sadly, this is version is manual, which mean it takes two people and a bit sweat to put it up or take it down. You can't really see it from the pictures but the portion of the floor on the hydraulics is broken into six rows and two columns. Each individual section has two holes cut into the floor than are covered by plastic plugs when not in use.
Each person has a metal pole that is dropped into the whole and rotated to unlock the hydraulics for that section. Every eight inches or so there is a rung built in so you can tier the sections as seen in the last photo. You could also drop them all down to their lowest setting and just make a pit.
While they haven't done it yet, I would love to seem them do a show in the round, with the pit and it's variety of levels used as the stage. I think there are a lot of possibilities to be had there.
So, yeah. Yet another reason why my new job kicks ass.
When they were giving me the tour, they gushed about how absolutely amazing the acoustics of this space were, comparing it to some very famous site in Italy that I had never heard of before, but I nodded politely nonetheless. That said, when they went into detail about the construction and components involved (i.e., things I understood) my nodding was much more earnest. But that wasn't the coolest part about the room.
THIS is the coolest part about the room:
Can you see what they did there? Here's a bigger picture closer up.
The floor is on hydraulic lifts which drop down into the floor.
Tell me that isn't cool! When they originally told me that had stadium seating built into the floor I assumed it was something that went up, not down. This is much classier than I was imagining. It's apparently all patented technology from some company out in Germany. There is, or was at the time they built this place ten years ago, only one other location in the U.S. that uses this system.
Sadly, this is version is manual, which mean it takes two people and a bit sweat to put it up or take it down. You can't really see it from the pictures but the portion of the floor on the hydraulics is broken into six rows and two columns. Each individual section has two holes cut into the floor than are covered by plastic plugs when not in use.
Each person has a metal pole that is dropped into the whole and rotated to unlock the hydraulics for that section. Every eight inches or so there is a rung built in so you can tier the sections as seen in the last photo. You could also drop them all down to their lowest setting and just make a pit.
While they haven't done it yet, I would love to seem them do a show in the round, with the pit and it's variety of levels used as the stage. I think there are a lot of possibilities to be had there.
So, yeah. Yet another reason why my new job kicks ass.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Daily Haiku - July 17, 2013
The gate remains still
Halfway open, halfway closed
Worn gears spin in vain.
Halfway open, halfway closed
Worn gears spin in vain.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
What I’m Cooking – Chicken Tikka Masala with Garlic Naan Bread
I’ve only tried making Chicken Tikka Masala once before and it did not turn out especially well. I was grilling the meat in batches outside and then transferring it into the simmering sauce until I was done. Unfortunately, it took several batches to get all the chicken cooked, so by the time the last round went into the sauce, the first round had been simmering for almost an hour. *facepalm* As you may have guessed, this made for some very touch chicken. But the flavor was still good and I planned on trying it again in the near future.
That was almost exactly two years ago.
Fortunately, Macheesmo posted a recipe for CTM back in April which got me thinking about it again, and now that I finally had time again to cook I decided to have a go at it. This recipe was much simpler as it cut out the grill entirely and used the broiler to partially cook the chicken before letting it finish in the simmering sauce.
I think I’d prefer a bit more spice to the sauce, but I really like the method of cooking and will definitely try this out again, preferably before another two years pass.
Friday, July 12, 2013
What I'm listening to: Ingrid Michaelson
While browsing boingboing I ran across a post about footage from Dinseyland in 1955 that the Disney folks have put together into a short video. It’s an interesting look back in time, but what interested me more was the song they had playing over the video.
After googling the lyrics I discovered the artist in question was Ingrid Michaelson, who I was actually introduced to in years past through different songs. Though peppered with happier, more upbeat music, a lot of her work is sad and beautiful, but that’s perfectly all right with me. Sometimes you just want to sit in the dark, be sad, and listen to lovely music.
Here’s the one that was in the Disney video:
And here’s one that’s a little more upbeat for comparison:
After googling the lyrics I discovered the artist in question was Ingrid Michaelson, who I was actually introduced to in years past through different songs. Though peppered with happier, more upbeat music, a lot of her work is sad and beautiful, but that’s perfectly all right with me. Sometimes you just want to sit in the dark, be sad, and listen to lovely music.
Here’s the one that was in the Disney video:
And here’s one that’s a little more upbeat for comparison:
Thursday, July 11, 2013
New Adventures and Old Routines.
It’s been a busy month. Since I last posted, The Pokemusical went up, sold out all its shows, got nominated and received an award for Best Musical at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and then got extended for two more performances later this month.
I also started my new job at the theatre and so far it’s been going really well. I’ve got some crazy hours working Wednesday through Sunday, 11am to 8pm while the show is up and running. Outside of running the box office though it’s been pretty smooth, and I’m looking forward to what the job will bring. I’m not sure if this is what I want to do with my life, but I’m glad I’m taking the chance to find out.
And now that my schedule is finally settling down I can start getting back into routines that have been sitting by the wayside, such as, oh I don’t know, posting to my blog. And who knows, maybe I’ll even start doing YouTube videos again.
TO BE CONTINUED!
I also started my new job at the theatre and so far it’s been going really well. I’ve got some crazy hours working Wednesday through Sunday, 11am to 8pm while the show is up and running. Outside of running the box office though it’s been pretty smooth, and I’m looking forward to what the job will bring. I’m not sure if this is what I want to do with my life, but I’m glad I’m taking the chance to find out.
And now that my schedule is finally settling down I can start getting back into routines that have been sitting by the wayside, such as, oh I don’t know, posting to my blog. And who knows, maybe I’ll even start doing YouTube videos again.
TO BE CONTINUED!
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